y°U ^ave Okserve(*> this is the first time that I have
attended this banquet as Prime Minister, and a
new Prime Minister would, I know, always receive at your
hands such a kindly and generous welcome as you have
extended to me. But I am no stranger to the City, which
has already had a long and varied experience of my activities
in another capacity, and moreover I have my sponsors to-day
in the shades of my ancestors, to whom you have so gracefully
alluded, and who lived their lives and carried on their trades
for a hundred years within a stone's throw of this ancient
building. I thank you, then, both for myself and for
my colleagues for what you have said about us, and I
assure you that we value very highly your support and
appreciation.
" It is customary at this dinner for the Prime Minister to
give a general review of the situation abroad. But I make no
apology for referring to the one great event of the year at
home before I turn to consider affairs oversea. The memory
of the Coronation, at which our young King and Queen
dedicated their lives to the service of their many peoples, is
fresh in our thoughts, and I 'am sure that you will wish to
join me in expressing to Their Majesties the loyalty and good
wishes which are felt by all their subjects.
" The Coronation Ceremony also marked the new stage
which has been reached in the constitutional development
of the British Empire. The participation of Dominion Prime
Ministers and other representatives from oversea—and indeed
the very form of the Coronation Service—showed that the
King was being crowned as King not of this country alone,
but of all the peoples and nations within the British Common-
wealth. We were glad to welcome to this country all who
in their public or private capacity came to attend this great
and historic occasion, and I should like to take this oppor-
tunity to thank those—among whom the Corporation of the
City of London took, as always, a leading part—who did their
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